La Master of Laws (LL.M.) from the Universidad Austral It is the first of its kind in Latin America and one of the first in the world outside the Anglo-Saxon sphere, with the level of the most prestigious LL.M. programs at US law schools. Twenty years after creating the first Master's programs in Spanish—combining Continental Law with Anglo-Saxon teaching methods—Austral is once again pioneering a program that revolutionizes the way postgraduate legal education is understood.
The LL.M. offers a broad and flexible program designed for those seeking advanced legal studies—whether in most areas or specific fields of interest—and also for those who wish to continue their academic training without necessarily pursuing a doctorate. It provides the theoretical and practical tools to update and specialize knowledge, always keeping in mind the ideals of truth and justice, from an intercultural, international, comparative, and interdisciplinary perspective that fosters exchange between national and international students and greater interaction among the Faculty's various graduate programs.
Flexibility and a personalized plan
A personalized and freely configurable study plan, equivalent in course structure and breadth of options to the LL.M. ( Master of Laws ) offered by the best universities of Anglo-Saxon tradition.
The curriculum is personalized: the required core courses represent only 7% of the credits , while the remaining 93% are freely chosen, with the guidance and approval of the Advisor and the Master's Program Directors, from within the Faculty of Law's course offerings. The courses are taught by approximately 200 professors with Master's or Doctoral degrees, extensive academic experience, and professional backgrounds; more than 20 of them are full-time or part-time faculty. Course Catalog
Flexible in-person
The LL.M. Master's program is offered in a flexible, in-person format , with up to 49% of coursework completed online , at the Buenos Aires and/or Pilar campuses . Its duration is a minimum of 1 year and a maximum of 3 years , depending on the personalized study plan, and enrollment can begin at any time of year.
Title: Master of Laws
The LL.M. of the Universidad Austral Its most distinctive feature is its great flexibility, without losing any of the high standards that have characterized its Master's programs for two decades.
This flexibility manifests itself in multiple ways, the main ones of which are highlighted here:
This Master's Degree in Law of the Universidad Austral Its overall objective is to provide legal professionals from various fields with a solid academic foundation that integrates the philosophical, ethical, scientific, and practical elements necessary for professional practice related to law. Thus, it aims to ensure that students obtain a higher education in their chosen area of law, deepening their training according to the current state of knowledge in each discipline, with an openness to research geared toward professional practice.
A distinctive feature of the Faculty is its use of participatory teaching methods, which include prior study and analysis of materials and cases by students. The aim, primarily through the case method in its various forms, is to help students develop their imagination and legal reasoning skills, enabling them to argue logically and rationally in the field of law at a postgraduate level. Furthermore, the Faculty strives to train them in the skills required for their professional practice.
Among the objectives of these postgraduate programs at the Faculty is also the acquisition of a solid foundation in legal doctrine, reaffirming the importance of the proper study of theory. While prioritizing participatory methods, each professor also incorporates the necessary theoretical elements into the bibliography and lectures, thus guiding students toward a critical, rather than dogmatic, understanding of the content.
The various requirements of the LL.M., like the various postgraduate programs of the Faculty, are geared towards training students so that, as graduates, they have the abilities to:
a) To act with critical thinking in their work reality and to value reflection and legal research as a working method.
b) Learn to perceive and relate all the facts of legal cases and problems, selecting relevant information and distinguishing it from irrelevant information.
c) Identify the law applicable to the facts submitted for consideration and interpret it.
d) To easily make appropriate, prudent and fair decisions in the face of various legal situations.
e) Argue in favor of the choice made and against the rejected alternatives and express these arguments orally and in writing.
g) To be professionals prepared axiologically and technically to perform a function of agreement, justice and equity in the conflicts of interests that the legal phenomenon raises and, in the case of magistrates and officials of the Judicial Branch, to resolve with justice, equity and technical competence the cases submitted to their judgment.
h) To acquire a methodology of permanent training in the legal field, and the awareness that it is essential to always resort to updating and learning in the face of the dynamic and complex regulations of social life, in order to better serve the community.
i) Working as a team, developing the potential for synergistic action with other colleagues.
j) Be qualified to participate in the strategic planning of the needs of clients, the organization, the State or judicial bodies.
k) To be trained to provide a high-quality service to the community through their skill in properly raising the various legal problems that arise in community life and in finding, in different circumstances, fair solutions to them.
As a subsidiary to training for professional practice, efforts are made to discover among the students those who have a vocation for research and higher teaching in the field of Law, and to sow in them the seed of academic life.
The teaching methodology of the Master's Degree in Law is eminently practical and participatory , using the case method.
The aim is to build learning upon the participants' experiences , enabling them to learn from both previously provided material and their own perspectives, and to defend their resulting analysis. The goal is to develop a synthesis of the opinions of the professionals attending the course and, naturally, those of the instructor, who leads the class.
The teachers aim to involve as many participants as possible in the class, transforming it into a debate of diverse opinions and a collaborative search for a solution to the case. They also moderate participation, giving participants the floor, guiding their contributions, asking questions, organizing comments, and sharing their own experience and perspectives on the matter.
The classes end with a systematization of the conclusions reached during the study , even if these may be diverse and contradictory, and where appropriate, with the appropriate conceptual specification of the topic discussed.
To make the most of classes and academic time, students need to read and study the material and cases provided beforehand.
The Faculty has been a pioneer in Argentina and throughout the Spanish-speaking world in the use of active and participatory teaching methods , and especially the case method , both at the postgraduate level, where it began to use them in the area of Continental Law, and where it is applied in two-thirds of the classes, and at the undergraduate level, where it is one of the few Latin institutions that uses them intensively.
In light of the above, its faculty employs various versions of the Socratic method in legal education. Specifically, the case method utilizes a multitude of pedagogical approaches, all stemming from a common core that the Faculty itself developed and adapted to Continental Law based on the pedagogical methodologies used in American Law and Business Schools.
In this way, all the educational activities of the Faculty strive to put into practice the three principles postulated by Christopher C. Langdell, the Dean who revolutionized Harvard Law School and the entire American legal education, when in 1870 he began to teach with the case method:
1) that the student's efforts are parallel to those of the teacher;
2) that the study be designed in such a way as to obtain the greatest and most lasting benefits; and
3) that the classes are in such a way that it is better for the student to attend than to stay at home reading a textbook.
In light of the above, and assuming as an indispensable basis a deep knowledge of the theoretical aspects and the normative structure of the different legal institutions, the case method consists of analyzing judicial decisions and hypothetical situational cases, evaluating the different alternative solutions presented and making decisions about the best path to follow.
Therefore, the Faculty's legal teaching places strong emphasis on training students in legal reasoning, researching sources to make decisions, and in writing and expressing their arguments and ideas.
The case study methodology is demanding for both students and professors . Making the most of classes and academic time requires students to read and study the assigned materials and cases beforehand. For professors, the case study method is demanding because it requires careful preparation of the materials and cases, as well as active participation in the class.
In postgraduate programs, the usual approach begins with the professor dedicating a third of the session time to presenting and discussing with the students the fundamental theoretical principles of the legal institution under analysis, which all students have already studied from the course materials. The doctrine is addressed, but not "theoretically," rather through critical analysis, seeking foundations, reasons, applications, strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement.
After studying the material, the case method is introduced, occupying two-thirds of the session dedicated to each topic. This method aims to build learning upon the participants' existing knowledge and experience , allowing them to learn not only from previously provided material but also from the perspectives of other participants, rather than solely from the professor's input, as in a traditional lecture system.
Following the Roman idea that law arises from facts, the method demands that, in the face of a given factual situation, one investigates the principles that structure appropriate solutions to it, critically analyzing them to see which ones respond to what the circumstances need.
The debate on specific applications of the law and on concrete facts that require a solution also leads to everyone's involvement with the institutions under analysis. This is because the whole person is involved, with their intelligence and emotions, and it leads to a better understanding of legal principles by seeing them in operation, since the elements that have been analyzed and debated are not forgotten.
The case study typically consists of a court ruling or a situational narrative, usually based on real facts and circumstances. Other variations of the method include film clips, actual lawsuits and responses, out-of-court counseling scenarios, and so on.
Sometimes professors provide a whole catalog of preliminary questions for case analysis, and at other times they discuss it directly, leaving the student to face the problem alone, without previously outlined paths.
The case analysis is first done in small groups of five to eight people, and then discussed in a plenary session of the whole class , with approximately one hour dedicated to team discussion and one and a half hours to joint debate.
Teamwork is essential in the adaptation of the Anglo-Saxon case method carried out in the Faculty, since it allows exponentially multiplying the participation of everyone, and enriching itself enormously with the views of others, creating the habit of cooperative work, so necessary in the world of legal professions.
Both in teamwork and in the discussion session with the whole class, the teachers seek to involve as many participants as possible in the development of the teaching, transforming it, from questions, into a debate of diverse opinions on the factual and legal aspects of the situation under study and training them in the search for the best solution of the case.
The educational methodology based on studying theory and applying it to cases develops in LL.M. students a profound critical sense in the analysis of legal institutions and situations. This fosters a strong critical legal mindset, enabling them to analyze with scientific rigor and depth, and to resolve with ease, a multitude of complex legal problems.
The case method, understood in this way, has proven to be an exceptional tool in practical training as a training in legal reasoning and argumentation , and has been applied with excellent results within the Faculty for almost twenty years, both at the postgraduate level, in our Master's and Specialization programs, and at the undergraduate level, in our Law degree.
Therefore, as all those who have done so can attest, having studied Law at the Universidad Austral es a unique and unforgettable experience, which leaves a profound mark and transforms, renewing and modifying the ways of approaching the legal phenomenon and professional activity.
Some of the outstanding skills that LL.M. students acquire at the College through the constant application of analysis, group discussion, and decision-making through the case method are the following:
Therefore, it is a source of pride that, after this training in legal thinking and mindset, almost all undergraduate and postgraduate graduates have managed to position themselves as expert lawyers in the areas of law they have chosen.
Indeed, as a logical result of the remarkable theoretical and practical training provided to students, the Faculty constantly receives job offers from law firms, companies, and public sector institutions.
Thus, they find themselves working in the country's leading studies, both in Buenos Aires and in the main capitals of the interior, in law firms and in important national and multinational companies and in relevant positions in the public administration and the judiciary, or abroad, usually in international law firms.
For the reading and study of doctrinal and jurisprudential materials, the Faculty provides the material in digital format in advance.
There are many benefits to using these digital tools:
To protect copyright, the Faculty takes charge of a license for each student, which is paid to CADRA for the use of bibliographic materials.
The texts in digital format are downloaded from the postgraduate virtual platform, which is accessed with a username and password.
If you have already completed a Master's degree, Diploma or Program in the Universidad Austral Whether you have completed your thesis or not, you can continue your training with a personalized and flexible study plan: accredit up to 270 hours of the subjects taken and passed, access a discount proportional to the hours accredited (not cumulative with other agreements already in force) and join through an abbreviated admission process. Fill out the form and we'll tell you what benefits you're entitled to based on your situation.
In light of the general objectives of the Faculty's Master's programs, combined with those of the LL.M., the profile of the graduates of the Master's in Law emerges, which is achieved as a direct result of the wide range of subjects and courses available.
This graduate profile is that of a lawyer who, having completed their general, foundational, undergraduate legal education and having kept abreast of evolving training needs, can serve society—from small towns and villages to large national cities, as well as in international relations or by working in other legal systems—by being prepared to provide specialized professional services or to pursue academic studies according to their interests . They can do this because, within a vast body of legal knowledge, they have acquired the specific skills necessary for individualized training tailored to their professional or academic requirements.
Alongside the above, due to the inherent diversity of this dynamic and open Master's program, the LL.M. prepares its graduates to incorporate new skills and knowledge in the future.
Specifically, the characteristics of the LL.M., as well as its different requirements, are geared towards training students so that, as graduates, they have the ability to:
The various departments maintain close ties with their hundreds of graduates through meetings and activities initiated by both parties. Many graduates are invited to serve as academic authorities in specific activities, conferences, special programs, courses, and seminars organized by the Faculty.
A significant number of graduates publish books with publishing houses that have agreements with the Faculty, as well as articles in journals and journals. In total, professors, students, and graduates of the Faculty have published approximately 300 books and 2.000 legal articles. All of this constitutes a powerful source of ideas , providing a continuous stream of research that offers society new tools and solutions to a wide variety of conflicts.
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